第100課: Want & Feeling II: ～がる

～がる is an extremely important suffix to overcome restrictions on person with phrases of emotional/physical state in Japanese.

The Suffix ～がる

Adjectival phrases of emotion in Japanese cannot take third person subjects. Meaning, you cannot say things like.

1a. 鈴木さんは失恋して悲しいです。X1a. Suzuki is heartbroken and sad.

To overcome this grammatical restriction, the suffix ～がる is needed.

1b. 鈴木さんは失恋して悲しがっています。1b. Suzuki seems sad from being heartbroken.

To conjugate, you simply attach ～がる to the stem of adjective regardless of class. Although we haven't gotten into what ～がる means, it is conveniently similar to "seem" in English. There are important differences that we'll get to later, so pay close attention!

Sad

悲しい

To seem sad

悲しがる

Happy

嬉しい

To seem happy

嬉しがる

Embarrassing

恥ずかしい

To seem embarrassed

恥ずかしがる

Scared

怖い

To seem scared

怖がる

New

新しい

To be fond of new things

新しがる

Rare

珍しい

To seem rare

珍しがる

Want to...

～たい

To seem to want

～たがる

Conjugation Note: Be careful to note confuse ～たかった and ～たがった or ほしかった and ほしがった, especially when listening as it may be tricky. Note that ～がる behaves like any other verb phrase. So, if ～ている is needed, you'll need to use ～がっている.

Usage Note: It's also interesting to note that there are many adjectival phrases that ～がる is never used with for whatever reason. Some include 好きだ, 涼しい、軽い, きれいだ, etc. One restriction is that it can't be used with adjectives that show no emotional aspect of someone. There is also a subjective/objective aspect to adjectives that mustn't be ignored. When you "like" someone, that isn't a one time thing. But, いやだ could be temporary. This is one reason why you can say 嫌がる but not 好きがる.

Although this suffix is one method of getting around third person restrictions on emotion phrase.

Phrase Note: An easy example of debunking the claim that ～がる is used only in third person is the pattern ～がり屋, which is used to describe people's natures. So, if you're hot-nature, you're an 暑がり屋.

Using 食べたい would present an even worse grammatical error, which is using the conjunctive particle と (conditional form) with an adjective. So, what does ～がる mean? In most cases, it assesses the outward appearance or overall knowledge of something and relates the situation with the internal state of the person in question.

It may also be the case that it is used to help show an internal state not shown outwardly, and this can be referring to an attitude being floated by the person in question or an attitude grasped by someone else.

4. 遼太朗は表面上は悔しがったが、心の中では喜んでいた。 Ryotaro was regretting outwardly, but he was rejoicing inside.

Examples

5. 俺だけが面白がってたのか。 Was I the only one who thought (that) was funny.

Note: This example shows how ～がる may be used to show a situation different than everything else.

Of course, there are other things you can use. For instance, ～そうだ after the stems of adjectives means "seems....". You may use かもしれない (might) or だろう・でしょう (probably). Of course, there are many other things. At the individual phrase level, however, you will see that some things should just never be used for oneself and others that should only be used in reference to others.

Words that refer to someone's wants, feelings, or likes don't need another pattern when used as an attribute/general knowledge (総合的な知識). Thankfully there are situations where the first/second and third person grammatical distinctions aren't necessary. This also goes for with situations reflecting on the past where something is already known.

19. 母が好きな食べ物は寿司です。 The food my mother likes is sushi.

20. 若い人たちは海外に出たいのだ。 Young people want to go overseas.

21. 弟はそのごろ韓国に行きたかったです。 My younger brother wanted to go to Korea then.

22. 参加したい人は図書館に行ってください。 Those that want to participate, please go to the library.

23. 日本では占うらない師しに運勢うんせいをみてもらいたい人が多いみたいです。 In Japan, it seems that a lot of people want their fortunes read by fortune-tellers.

24. すぐやりたがる人はいやだ。 People that want to immediately do it are a pain.

Grammar Note: This doesn't give you a 100% free pass to not use ～がる when the situation calls for it.

Practice (2):

1. She is afraid of spiders.2. I am very sad.3. The teacher is afraid of ghosts.4. She hates going to the countryside. 5. He seemed very happy.

Practice (2):

1. She is afraid of spiders.2. I am very sad.3. The teacher is afraid of ghosts.4. She hates going to the countryside. 5. He seemed very happy.